A crowd of more than 100 people protested the presence of U.S. Army recruiters on campus Friday, thrusting signs that proclaimed "Resist Discrimination" and shouting, "Make some noise! Take a stand! Discrimination should be banned!"
Lambda Law -- an organization that advocates lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights -- and its allies publicly voiced their discontent over military recruitment on campus through an hour-long protest outside Leonard Lauder Career Center.
The protest focused on the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which the protesters argued discriminates against the LGBT community and thus in violation of Penn Law School's anti-discrimination policy.
"This is our University and our building and our career center and our values," said Jacob Press, second-year Law student and co-chairman of Lambda Law. ""Don't ask, don't tell' is employment discrimination. ... Employment discrimination is a violation of this University's policies. ... We are here today, [because] we have the right to live in the community according to our own values, and the U.S. military can't come in here and push us around."
At the heart of the protest lies the Solomon Amendment -- a law that makes federal funding contingent on the U.S. Armed Forces receiving equal recruiting access to students. The protest is part of a larger battle that includes an ongoing lawsuit against the Department of Defense filed by Penn Law faculty last year.
The more than 100 protesters gathered outside of the Sansom Street entrance to the Law School, proceeded to demonstrate across campus, and rallied behind the McNeil Building.
"To be a majority and to be a minority -- these are contingent things. These are breaths of air. They come and go. They mean absolutely nothing. What matters is the insight that we all share of fundamental human dignity," Press said. "We, as citizens, have the mission to create institutions that respect this fundamental dignity, and that's what we are doing today, and that's what the military is failing to do inside that building right now."
After the rally -- which had nearly a dozen speakers, including representatives from the Black Law Student Association and Penn's chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union -- the protesters silently deposited all their signs outside the room in which the Army held its interviews.
Numerous protesters participated in interviews with U.S. Army representatives to further express their displeasure with the Army's presence. Maura McKenna, a second-year Law student and Lambda Law co-chairwoman, estimated that these acts of protest comprised up to half of the interviews conducted on Friday by the U.S. Army.
Second-year Law student Drew Norman was involved with one such interview. He stressed to Army representatives that this issue touches everyone in the community, not just LGBT students. Norman added that, even though he would be a viable candidate to join the Judge Advocate General's corps, he would not consider it because he found the military's policy objectionable, and he made that clear in the interview.
The protest is the second of its kind, and leaders are considering making it an annual event until the issue is resolved.
